Premier Grocery Company

A Superior Ancillary Care Solution

The Company

One of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with over 2,000 stores nationwide, partnered with CorVel in 2018. The premier grocery store company’s long-standing mission is to make a meaningful difference by serving their communities and helping people live better lives. Like CorVel, they are dedicated to delivering exceptional quality to their customers and associates.

The Partnership

The Company partnered with CorVel to manage its physical therapy program in California. The Company chose CorVel because of our extensive experience in the industry and our team’s ability to deliver patient-centered care that lowers costs. Since introducing CorVel’s ancillary care solutions, we’ve streamlined their scheduling process, implemented virtual physical therapy, and provided high-quality customer service to improve program outcomes significantly.

Clinical Management

CorVel’s top-notch service level and provider network offering led to the steady results the program has experienced since implementation. The program’s average number of physical therapy visits per claim is notably lower than industry standards. Within the first two months, the average number of physical therapy visits completed was 55% below previous program results. In 2022, the average number of physical therapy visits completed was 20% below ODG guidelines, contributing to 14% higher savings.

CorVel built a custom network targeting highly-utilized healthcare providers to ensure appropriate treatment utilization and partnered with the Company’s utilization review team for a seamless workflow. CorVel helped achieve better outcomes by building trust with the Company’s adjusters and case managers, understanding their needs, and collaborating to create the best solutions for the program. As a result, we have seen high adoption of CorVel’s services by their staff, success in referral volume, and appropriate treatment utilization of physical therapy.

Medical Cost Containment

In addition to workflow optimization, CorVel’s customer service, designated representatives, and call center expansion led to notable improvements to the program. This helped the Company reach its goal of effectively managing physical therapy treatment. Since 2018, there has been significant improvement in containing the program’s costs and delivering quality care to injured workers.

CorVel lowered the average visits and duration of care by providing clinical expertise that ensured injured workers received appropriate treatment. The physical therapists in CorVel’s network carefully assessed each injury to tailor care for optimal outcomes. In 2020, we also introduced virtual physical therapy services to the Company’s California ancillary program. The increase in referrals through teletherapy reduced time away from the workplace. In the second quarter of 2020, 12% of referrals were through teletherapy.

Limiting delays in referrals and scheduling sped up care delivery to positively impact the program. The Company experienced a 16% reduction in the average turnaround time in just one year. To date, new referral volume remains steady, and turnaround time for scheduling averages under 1 day.

Looking Ahead

The Company’s partnership with CorVel has been successful in implementing new processes to improve the care experience and increase utilization. Most recently, we collaborated on the rollout of text messaging to injured workers to schedule appointments and decreased the turnaround time for appointment scheduling by half a day. As referral volume and appropriate utilization of physical therapy remain steady, CorVel remains dedicated to helping the program reach its goals and exceed industry standards.